A consistent, controlled, smooth and effective golf swing is required to successfully play the game of golf. It is a goal of every golfer. The sport of golf is easy to describe but difficult to execute because many factors are involved in accurately swinging a golf club to strike a ball in a control led manner.
The neurobiology involved in a golf swing is equally simple to describe. The cerebellum in the base of a human brain is connected via the spinal cord to all muscles in the body. The cerebellum is responsible for the coordination of muscle movement and therefore controls motor movements of muscles in the body. This control is communicated to muscles through nerve cells.
Brain cells are composed of millions of neurons, which extend their network circuit of neuron throughout the body. Each neuron is connected to each other through its nerve fiber. Once activated, brain cell neurons send messages via electrical signals to neurons connected to relevant muscles. Executing these messages, the muscle neurons will then either cause the muscle to contract or to relax. In such a way, brain cells can control the action of muscles.
The network of neuron circuits works both ways. That is, muscles in turn also can control brain cells via neuron circuits. Neurons located in the muscles of the body are connected to the brain via nerve fibers. Any physical stimulation of the muscles causes these neurons in the muscles to generate physical stimulation signals, which are fed back to the brain cells (neurons) that are involved in generating muscle control signals. This creates or completes a servo loop of neuron circuits that controls muscle movements, from brain to muscles and from muscles to brain.
Scientists define such muscle control circuits as muscle memory. In view of foregoing, muscle memory involves the servo loop circuit comprised of both brain and body neural circuits. As with many things, the more often a muscle control circuit servo loop is activated, the stronger it becomes. For example, once an individual learns to ride a bicycle, the ability to ride the bicycle is recorded in muscle memory circuits and continues to be operative for a lifetime.
The development of muscle memories for golf swings is essential to achieve successful swings that allow a club head to accurately hit a golf ball. However, hitting the golf ball accurately is only half of the story. Strength is also often required to hit the golf ball a desired distance. Thus, most of successful golfers have both great muscle memory for successful golf swings and muscle strength tailored to the specific muscles involved in the muscle memory.
People have made many attempts to enhance muscle memory to improve a golf swing. Many of these devices and methods produce inconsistent results partly due to the complexity of golf swing motions and partly because they fail to cultivate muscle memory.
Existing golf swing training methods often overcomplicate the functions of the swing plan and preferred club positioning. Golfers often give up trying to improve their swings, commenting that their feel of swing is distracted by having to remember many technical adjustments required to correct faults in their swing. Effective muscle memory training is more likely to be effective if done independently of making such technical adjustments to a swing.
Some methods try to guide the path of a putter or a golfer's swing arm or body motion. These methods or devices are incapable of accurately allowing a golfer to experience the feeling of properly swinging their own clubs in a real golf game. In other words, restricted movements caused by these methods force a golfer to focus on technicality instead of feeling the motion of a golf swing.
Weight-training techniques, such as THERABAND™, will strengthen muscles. They do not appear to help a golfer to maintain a proper swing plan, nor do they improve the mechanics of a swing. As such, while these weight-training techniques should help a golfer to improve his or her general muscle strength, they might not help a golfer improve target muscle strength specific for an effective golf swing, and most likely will not help a golfer to gain muscle memory necessary to improve his or her golf swing.
Some attempts have been made to create weight training method specific to strengthen muscles for golf swings, such as aquatic golf swing training device or devices including a hollow ball. However, these techniques still require a person to pay attention to technical intricacies of golf swings, such as balance, twist, proper swing planes, etc. In addition, these devices also tend not to give a golfer a feel of an effective transfer of force from body to palm needed to successfully improve one's golf swing. A golfer using these methods cannot feel how an actual swing would feel. As a result, he or she cannot adjust his or her swing stance, swing pattern, and muscle strength accordingly to acquire the desired muscle memory.
Various loops, tethers, cuffs, harnesses and the like have been proposed for training golfers by physically constraining one or more body movements. These devices may be awkward to use or inconvenient to attach. Moreover, restraining certain muscle movements offers no guarantee that bad habits will not be resumed when the restraints are removed.